1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally pertains to domestic clothes dryers and, more specifically, to air ducts and methods of mounting air ducts within domestic clothes dryers.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the years, domestic clothes drying machines have evolved to have a generally common or conventional air flow path. Typically, air is drawn from atmosphere into the appliance cabinet and heated in a heating unit. Heated air is introduced at a rear of a rotatable clothes containing drum and travels through the drum to an exit at the front thereof. As the air exits the drum, it passes through a lint filter and is communicated to a blower unit by way of an air duct. The blower unit draws air from the drum through the filter and the air duct and blows the filtered air to atmosphere or vent. The air duct serves as a connector or bridge between the drum and the blower unit.
The air duct in such systems is typically mounted to the dryer cabinet by one of two methods. The first method employs a series of conventional fasteners which extend through matingly aligned apertures in the air duct and a front panel of the dryer cabinet. The second method uses two-sided adhesive pads to attach the air duct to the inner surface of the front panel. In either case, the edges of the air duct adjacent the front panel are caulked in an attempt to seal the gaps or spaces which are present between the air duct and the front panel.
Although great care may be taken in applying the caulk, spaces or gaps inevitably remain between the air duct and the front panel, and these spaces allow lint and air to leak from the air duct into the interior of the cabinet. Also, due to repeated heating and cooling during and after the drying of clothes, the cabinet and air duct repeatedly shrink, expand, and warp, creating further gaps or spaces between the air duct and the front panel of the cabinet. The elevated temperature of the air within the air duct sometimes has deleterious effects on the caulk, causing it to dry and crack and thereby further increasing the number and size of spaces between the front panel and the air duct. Also, attaching the air duct with conventional fasteners allows undesirable noise to be communicated to the clothes dryer cabinet, while using adhesive pads allow the air duct to vibrate or resonate and often does not provide a firm mechanical joint between the air duct and cabinet.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a method of attaching an air duct to a domestic clothes dryer which effectively seals the space between the air duct and the clothes dryer cabinet. There also exists a need in the art for a method of attaching the air duct to the clothes dryer cabinet which does not require separate fasteners, and which simultaneously seals the gaps or spaces between the clothes dryer cabinet and the air duct, and for a clothes dryer which incorporates the bonded and sealed cabinet and air duct. Finally, there exists a need in the art for a method of attaching the air duct to the clothes dryer cabinet which dampens or minimizes the transmission and generation of undesirable noise between the air duct and cabinet.